The average number of startups in Europe is 5 per 100,000 people, with Estonia ranking 6 times higher than the European average, taking third place in Europe, following Iceland and the Republic of Ireland.

In 2019, 69 new investment deals were made in Estonia, totalling the amount of 296 million euros. Having declared the internet a basic human right in 2000, Estonia has seen the maturation of companies like Skype and Transferwise and the birth of two other  unicorns -- ride-hailing app Bolt and gambling software Playtech.

Another factor leading to this boom in Estonian startups is how streamlined the processes are for entrepreneurs looking to build their own business.

So with so much on their side for a prosperous new year, here are the six hottest Estonian innovative companies to keep an eye on in 2020:

Pipedrive

It is easy to forget Pipedrive’s Estonian roots, when at the end of 2019 this company boasts a user base of more than 90,000 companies in over 150 countries, with more than 615 employees representing 48 different nationalities and operations across Europe, North America and Latin America.

Founded in 2010, in Tallinn, Estonia, this company is the first CRM platform designed by salespeople to help salespeople manage their pipeline and work more efficiently.

Utilising the broad sales experience amassed by its co-founders, Pipedrive set out to employ their wisdom to build a solution that addresses the common problem areas in the sales pipeline.

Realising from their experience in sales that you can’t control your results - but that you can control your actions, they created Pipedrive, a software that visualises this process to ensure that sales success is not only possible, but inevitable for teams everywhere.

Today, Pipedrive is considered the top user-rated CRM, thanks to its user-friendly interface. As of 2019, Pipedrive has raised a total of $91.2 million in venture funding from Atomico, Bessemer Venture Partners, Paua Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners and others.

Veriff

In the digital age, the risk of scammers and identity theft is at an all time high, with the process of registering customers and clients online easier than ever.

To combat this issue, Tallinn headquartered company, Veriff, developed an online identity verification software that is easily integrated into the onboarding process to prevent identity theft.

Utilising machine learning technology Veriff uses document and data validation, video analysis, face comparison, device fingerprinting and registry checks to provide companies with real-time results, while maintaining manual checks with verification specialists to provide a secure human-machine collaboration.

With specialists from 44 countries, Veriff has provided verification services across 190 countries. The company has raised a total of $7.8M in funding over 3 rounds with their latest funding raised on Jun 19, 2018 from a Series A round.

Notably the latest round was led by Mosaic Ventures, joining an impressive list of backers that include Taavet Hinrikus, Ashton Kutcher, Paul Buchheit, Elad Gil, SV Angel, ACE Ventures, and Superangel.

Bolt

Perhaps another one you’d be surprised to learn is Estonia born, Bolt - formerly known as Taxify - is a transportation network company founded and headquartered in Tallinn. Operating in over 30 countries and more than 150 cities across Europe, Africa and other territories.

The company boasts 25 million passengers, and more than 500,000 drivers around the world. In addition to challenging giants like Uber and Lyft in the European and African markets, Bolt has also expanded beyond the ride-hailing app platform.

In September 2018, the company launched a fleet of e-scooters in Paris, and are expanding this across other European and Australian cities where the app is already established.

In addition, in August 2019, Bolt launched its food delivery services in Tallinn, with plans to expand to further cities in Europe and Africa in the coming year. Bolt has raised a total of $244.4M in funding over 6 rounds, and is funded by 18 investors, with G Squared and Creandum their most recent investors. Their latest funding was raised on Jul 8, 2019 from their Series D.

Scoro

Founded in 2013 in Tallinn, Scoro is a collaborative SaaS product that enables its users to manage and track projects, track finances, manage client base and compile and share quotes and invoices.

This all-in-one business management platform is designed to help streamline work and eliminate routine tasks within professional and creative organisations.

Developed to make the most of a team’s time, this platform utilises integrated time management tools - such as shared tasks and team calendars - to set capacity, plan accordingly and optimise any team’s time.

This software doesn’t only include project management solutions, but also facilitates financial management, CRM, quoting, and reporting. Scoro has raised a total of $7.1M in funding over 2 rounds from 4 main investors, Alchemist Accelerator, Inventure, Tera Ventures and Livonia Partners; their latest funding was raised on Nov 1, 2018 from their Series A.

MeetFrank

Founded in 2017, MeetFrank, is a Tallinn-based anonymous HR recruiting app with 125,000 active users in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, and most recently, Germany.

The secret career app aims to democratise the job market by providing transparency and efficiency, with potential employees signing up anonymously through the MeetFrank app to receive relevant job postings based on their qualifications and career aspirations.

To date, over 2,000 companies currently use MeetFrank’s service to attract new employees through its recruiting app. The startup company is expanding its new recruitment app concept to the Nordic countries and other European markets soon.

Following their latest funding on Dec 5, 2019 from their Series A, MeetFrank has raised a total of €2.5M in funding over 2 rounds from Hummingbird Ventures, Karma Ventures, Change Ventures and others.

Modash

Headquartered in Tallinn, Modash is a startup that enables marketers to easily find and collaborate with a network of 100 million social media influencers on Twitch and Instagram.

Designed to supercharge influencer marketing campaigns at scale, this platform allows businesses to access influencer audience demographics, distinguish fake followers.

With a few clicks, this platform provides communication between the user and the influencer that speaks to your target audience, enabling the user to assign the influencer tasks, and track the ROI for influencer marketing campaigns.

Modash.io has raised a total of $287.2K in funding over 3 rounds from Icebreaker.vc and LIFT99. Their latest funding was raised on Nov 18, 2019 from a Convertible Note round.